Flash CS5: screenshot tour

So the Flash CS5 announcement is a little buried perhaps under the weight of other related news, so here are some screenshots of CS5. For the Adobe announced features of Flash CS5, see this page here: http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/whatsnew/. The following post has screenshots from Flash CS5 to show you the new features in a bit more detail. The post will follow the categories and topics from the page linked previously, if they can be shown in the UI.

Click thumbnails for full-size images.

Default layout/UINothing much new here, but you’ll see a few changes.

Some new UI options too, including one for small screens. This UI layout is particularly useful if you’re on a laptop or need to use a low resolution for a presentation.

Text engine

Otherwise known as "TLF" text. You’ll see a rather sizable number of options in the Property inspector. First of all, here’s the PI when you select the Text tool (TLF Text is selected by default, you can revert back to Classic Text if you wish).

TLF has options, just like Classic Text does, for Read Only, Selectable or Editable – like Static, Dynamic, and Input.

You can also change the orientation of text so it’s either Horizontal or Vertical

After you type or select some TLF text fields, the Property inspector context changes and you have the following multitude of options. The first photo shows the main PI, and the following two photos show the collapsed sections.

Code Snippets panel

Tired of googling your AS3? I am. Find the code you need right in a panel within Flash. The following screenshots show the basic Code Snippets panel, the panel options, and then each section so you can see the available snippets. Remember you can add your own to the panel.

XML-based FLA source filesFLA files are changing from binary to XML-based. This helps both designers and developers, and especially those working in teams.

Spring for BonesSpringiness for those using IK.

Deco drawing toolsA whole bunch of new deco styles available in CS5. The following screenshots show just a few of the many additions to this feature.

FLVPlayback Video componentComponent parameters available in the Property inspector, as well as Cue point properties. Add ActionScript cuepoints right in the Property inspector, and view Navigation cuepoints and their parameters that are already in your FLVs.

The following video does not have cuepoints, some are added using the "+" button in the PI, and then you can add parameters for the selected cuepoints.

This next video already had cuepoints embedded in it, and they’re visible in the PI. Their location, name, and parameters all show up.

Other new features that cannot be shown (to any extent) in pictures are: JSFL for motion and a few "new motion" ECR-like features, Creative Suite and FlexBuilder integration, content distribution (like to AIR).

I totally forgot to add the video stuff, thanks! Just updated the post with screenshots for that.

As far as I know it works just like before as far as the ActionScript is concerned. You can just opt to add the cuepoints using the PI. For example, this AS3 code works just as in earlier versions for the example above that inserts AS cuepoints using the PI –

It looks great and I will be upgrading. I already have Flash Builder 4. I am particularly interested in Flash CS5′s performance with AS3 files, as its predecessor’s was lamentable. I hear that Adobe have worked hard on code syntax, highlighting and code hinting. Thanks for the article Jen.

So the Flash CS5 announcement is a little buried perhaps under the weight of other related news, so here are some screenshots of CS5. For the Adobe announced features of Flash CS5, see this page here: http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/whatsnew/. The following post has screenshots from